Elena: Cinderella Mentality
by Miss Helga
Summary: Once upon a time there was a girl named Elena. After both of her parents die and she is left in the care of her stepmother, her mind starts to deteriorate as she enters her own fantasy world. This is the story of "Cinder-El" from her loved ones point of view.


Inspiration slapped me across the face a couple of hours ago and said I couldn't sleep until I finished this.

A different take on Cinderella.

This is my early Christmas present to you guys.

Making this Teen, just in case some people get "offended."

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Once Upon a Time, there lived a beautiful young girl named Elena. When she was very young, her mother died of a weak heart. El cherished the fairy tales that her mother would read her at night. For years, it was only her and her father, Charles, living alone in their big house.

Charles eventually remarried to a woman named Nora, and with his new wife he also gained two more daughters, Brooke and Mae. Their home was a peaceful place, until the day of the fire. It was El's 15th birthday, and her father had arranged for the two of them to go horseback riding on the trail through the woods, knowing how much his little princess loved animals. Elena was told to wait outside of the stables while Charles went to get their horses. A loud thud was heard moments later. Something spooked his horse, the father was knocked unconscious, and the five horses that stayed in the stable ran out. In the commotion, a lantern broke, and the stable was quickly devoured in flames. El could do nothing but stand there in shock, watching as the fire took the life of her beloved father.

Elena's heart never recovered, and she lived her life in sorrow. Her only friend was her mother's book of fairy tales. She would sit in the chair by the fireplace with her book, reading it or simply having it for the comfort it brought her. When not by the fire, she would clean to keep herself busy. She loved watch her mother clean, because even covered in dirt, her mother was still a personification of Grace. She became a shadow in her own home. Her stepmother and stepsisters did not know how to help El, though not from lack of trying. Her stepmother once invited over a psychologist, , to observe El's behavior to see if he could help bring her back to the family. Nora truly did care for her stepdaughter and worried for her health. El was spending so much time by the fire that the cinders would gather onto her clothes. One of her daughters once referred to the girl as "Cinder-El, which she was scolded for immediately. At the end of the week, Dr. Jacques gave his solemn report: "Elena is lost in herself, only taking comfort in her book. Her Depression has caused her mind to slip into a reality that her subconscious created. She is not here, but somewhere else. I can not say what her fantasy world is like, but she does not want to wake up from it just yet." Dr. Jacques came by once every month to check in on his patient.

A year had passed since Charles' death and Elena was still not responsive to anyone. She could be found humming while cleaning, her book always nearby. She began leaving bits of cheese out for mice and mumbling to the birds in the trees from her window. El seemed happy when she did these things, so her family did not protest. Her odd behavior was contained to mumbling, obsessive cleaning, humming, sitting by the fire, and leaving out cheese cubes. The book never strayed more than a few feet from El's person.

Brooke and Mae returned from school one day with a couple of friends. El was sitting by the fireplace, reading her book again. One of the friends questioned Elena's behavior and why she didn't go to school with them. "Elena is a...dreamer...and not well mentally," Brooke started to explain. "So she can't go to school with us. She wouldn't even know she was there. Most of the time she just sits there by the fire with her fairy tales. Mae once tried to give her a nickname, but Mother didn't like that." "What was the name," another friend asked. "Cinder-El." At the mention of the almost-was-nickname, El looked away from her book, meeting her stepsisters' eyes, and smiled for the first time in over a year. It was brief, but moved the girls to tears. There was a flicker of recognition in El's eyes, in that moment. Dr. Jacques was brought back to examine El again. After another close examination, the good doctor found that Elena would only show signs of recognition, though very slight, when called "Cinder-El." She would look at the person, smile, then go back to her stories. Cinder-El wasn't looking at the person who called her such, but through them. And it was only certain people. She would look towards her stepmother, stepsisters, and Dr. and Mae's friends would gain a response depending how often they would be at the house, the more they had visited meaning the more "Cinder-El" would "recognize" them. Dr. Jacques came to the conclusion that they were all characters in her created fantasy world, in some form. From that point on, Dr. Jacques changed to weekly appointments with El.

During on of their weekly sessions, Dr. Jacques heard a small, hoarse voice say, "You are a good friend, Jaq." The doctor looked away from the newspaper he was reading, trying to find the owner of the voice. In confusion, he looked towards El's chair and found her smiling at him. "You always keep me company," the girl spoke again for the first time since he's known her. Her voice was a bit raw from the lack of use, but was still a recognizably sweet sound and suited her outer appearance quite nicely. Jacques was amazed that the girl was speaking. He was hoping to make some sort of breakthrough soon. Taking out his pen and opening his journal, he began to take notes, asking "Cinder-El" what was on her mind. In the brief descriptions she gave him, the doctor began to get a glimpse of her world. His character was a talking mouse that she called "Jaq." Brooke and Mae's friends were also talking mice that lived in the walls of the house. The mice helped her clean and were very friendly to her, unlike her stepsisters' actual friends who often just ignored her when they would come over. Cinder-El's stepsisters were not very nice and acted spoiled, treating her like a maid. El's stepsisters, though they did come off as a bit spoiled, were very concerned for their sister. Cinder-El's stepmother was a contrast to the kind and caring Nora, who loved Elena as her own.

To everyone's disappointment, Elena did not speak again after that session. Another year passed and Elena's 17th birthday came and went. Her family was becoming desperate for help. While cleaning one day, Elena's book got knocked off of the table it was sitting on, and landed on the floor in front of the fireplace. A few sparks landed on the old book and it caught flame. Elena let out a shrill screech of despair and grabbed the book, burning her hands. Nora ran into the room and saw El holding the burning book, crying. She grabbed El, making her drop the book, and rushed her to the hospital. Her hands were not severely burned, thankfully, but they had to be kept wrapped for a few weeks, applying cool cream a few times a day. El stayed in the hospital that weekend. When she came back home, Elena became even more of a phantom. She would hardly eat and would stay in her room most of the day. A few of the times that she left her room of her own will, she would sit on the floor, staring at the fire that took her stories from her.

It was the Fall season and Elena just turned 18. , knowing that Elena needed more help than what she could receive at home, set up a visitation tour of a psychiatric facility located a few hours from the family's town. The head nurse, Goodna Farr, from the facility came to the house to escort El and her family. Nurse Farr was a kind, older woman who liked to make her patients feel special. When she came upon the house early that morning, she found El waiting outside in the pumpkin patch near the front. El was crying on the garden swing on which her mother used to sit with her. She always told her that Fall was a magical time and the most magical place you could find in that season, was a pumpkin patch, because fairies loved to spend their days in patches much like this one. "You must be Cinder-El. Please don't cry, child. Your face is too pretty to be stained with tears. My name is Goodna Farr. I've come to help you. I brought you a present." Nurse Farr pulled a box from her bag and opened it for Elena. Inside the box was a pair of white slip-on shoes. They were simple in design and resembled nurse shoes. Elena looked at the shoes and smiled for the first time in months. She did not resist when Nurse Farr took off her shoes and slid the new ones on her feet. They were a good fit, though one was a bit more loose than the other.

At the psychiatric facility, one of the other nurses lead Elena's family on a tour of the building. Elena waited in the recreation area where some of the other patients were listening to the radio or doing their own thing. John, a patient who was 19 years old, approached Elena. He has lived in the facility for the past 10 years, his family having dubbed him a lost cause and leaving him there. John hasn't had a visitor in 4 years. A slow, romantic song came on the radio and John offered El his hand. When her family came back to the rec room, they saw Elena smiling and laughing while dancing with this boy. She was the happiest they had seen her in years. They had long forgotten what her laugh even sounded like. The decision to let her live there was an easy one, because they saw how much it already helped her smile again.

Brooke and Mae wanted to leave before lunch, so they called out to "Cinder-El" hoping she would come. El was still dancing with her prince. When the chimes signalling lunch rang out, Elena pulled herself away from her dance partner and ran to her family's car and made herself silent in the backseat. It wasn't until they got home that Nora realized that one of El's new shoes fell off. She looked for it in the car, but after a long search, pronounced it lost. Two days later, while Nora and her daughters were packing El's personal belongings for her move, one of the male nurses, Nurse Duke, came to the house. John had found Elena's shoe and only had referred to the owner of the shoe as "my princess." Head-nurse Farr was the one who recognized the shoe as one of the pair she bought for Cinder-El, and requested Duke to take the shoe to Elena's home.

By the end of the week Elena moved into the psychiatric facility where she was reunited with her John. Cinder-El saw him as a prince and John saw her as his beautiful princess. They lived there, happily ever after, just like it said in Elena's old, burnt book.

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_**THE END**_

Happy Holidays!


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